MoJo Author Feeds: Eamon Kircher-Allen | Mother Joneshttp://www.motherjones.com/rss/authors/12003
http://www.motherjones.com/files/motherjonesLogo_google_206X40.pngMother Jones logohttp://www.motherjones.com
enK'naan: Straight Outta Mogadishuhttp://www.motherjones.com/media/2009/02/knaan-romney-straight-outta-mogadishu
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
<html><body><p><strong>Update:&nbsp;</strong>After learning that Mitt Romney played his song "Wavin' Flag" at his Flordia primary victory rally, Canadian-Somali musician K'naan announced his displeasure <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/#!/KNAAN/status/162630287166156801">via Twitter</a>: "Yo @mittromney I am K'naan Warsame and I do not endorse this message." He asked Romney not to play the song again (but said Barack Obama was welcome to); the Romney campaign reportedly has agreed. <em>Mother Jones</em> interviewed K'Naan shortly before his album <em>Troubadour</em>, which includes "Wavin' Flag," was released in 2009.</p>
<p>&bull;&nbsp; &bull;&nbsp; &bull;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.knaanmusic.com/">K'naan</a>'s music sounds a little like Eminem's, if Slim Shady had spent his childhood dodging bullets in Somalia's civil war. The 30-year-old hip-hop artist (born Kaynaan Warsame) grew up on the mean streets of Mogadishu and escaped in 1991 on one of the last commercial flights out of the country. Now living in Toronto, he's just released his second studio album, <em>Troubadour</em>, an addictive blend of African-jazz-infused ballads and rhymes about everything from Somali pirates and the immigrant experience to Iraq. Having survived "the most dangerous city in this universe," K'naan says he can't separate his music from his past. "I don't have the luxury of ignoring myself," he says. His honesty has resonated with other musicians; he's collaborated with Damian Marley and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, and Mos Def has joined him onstage. K'naan talked to <em>Mother Jones</em> while sitting on a bus on his way to a show.</p>
<p><strong>Mother Jones:</strong> You said goodbye to Somalia when you were 13 years old. How does your childhood relate to your music?</p>
<p><strong>K'naan:</strong> It's kind of the primary influence. The only way I see the world now is through coming out of and growing up and living in Somalia. In the time of war, everyone was basically trying to live and manage the best they could. But you also had another period which was not a hard time at all&mdash;it was just a beautiful time. I lived in both eras. I got to fully experience and appreciate both the tragedy of Somalia and the beauty of it.</p>
<p><strong>MJ:</strong> In your music, you talk a lot about being a kid in a war zone. In "People Like Me," you say you "partook in the gun crimes" and mention a "close call with a grenade." Did you fight in the war?</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/media/2009/02/knaan-romney-straight-outta-mogadishu"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>MediaInterviewMusicWed, 11 Feb 2009 19:09:59 +0000Eamon Kircher-Allen21123 at http://www.motherjones.comBeirut Dispatch: The Manic Peace Partyhttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/08/beirut-dispatch-manic-peace-party
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
<html><body><p>It's 3 a.m., and I have just left the tiny, noisy bar of Torino for a place around the corner called Biba, in the trendy Beirut neighborhood of Gemayze. I'm on my last leg, but for Beirut's pub crawlers, the night has just begun. The bars here begin to fill at 11, and many simply stay open until the last person leaves&mdash;often, at daylight.
</p><p>Many of the bar-hopping 20- and 30-somethings I'm out with grew up with war, and to them, the peace of the past few months is precious indeed. The expectations of future wars loom in the shadows of every alley, waiting to mug tonight's fragile calm. </p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/politics/2008/08/beirut-dispatch-manic-peace-party"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>PoliticsPrisonsIsraelmiddle eastSyriaThu, 14 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0000Eamon Kircher-Allen12004 at http://www.motherjones.com